It all comes down to this. Prep. Hartfield. MAIS 6A State championship at Mississippi College at 6 p.m. on Saturday night. The Patriots are looking to repeat as the champions. The Hawks are looking to cap an undefeated season for the first football title in school history.
“There’s a little bit of nerves but mainly adrenaline. We were here last year so we know what it’s like,” said Prep senior defensive lineman Andy Brown. “We are going to try and repeat what we did and win on Saturday.”
“It’s big. It’s big for our community, big for our team,” said Hartfield senior linebacker Chris Jones. “We moved to 6A three years ago and it’s been a ride. We’ve faced challenges and hardships and we want to make history, win our first 6A championship and bring it back to our school. Prep is a great program and I have great respect for them, but Saturday we are just going to bring it. I know we will do our best and have a great game.”
Hartfield coasted to a 35-7 win over Jackson Academy in the semifinals. Senior running back and Southern Miss commit Reed Jesiolowski was a beast with 23 carries for 220 yards and a touchdown. Jesiolowski is up to 1,800 yards and 22 touchdowns on the ground, coupled with 300 receiving yards and five more scores on the season.
“It doesn’t mean anything if we don’t win this week, all that stuff goes out the window if we don’t win the state championship,” said Jesiolowski.
Jackson Prep had a slugfest in its semifinal, beating MRA 28-25. The Patriots dominated the ground game with 288 rushing yards. Quarterback Billy Puckett led the way with 11 carries for 157 yards and two touchdowns. Junior running back Cole Gideon added 11 carries of his own for 96 yards and two touchdowns as well. Junior linebacker Laird Johnson had a massive game with 12 tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack. Andy Brown and senior defensive back Matthew Mehrle added nine each. Senior linebacker and the team’s leading tackler Thomas Cross chipped in six and a sack. Senior defensive back Micah Stallworth had five tackles, an interception, and blocked a field goal. The win sets up Head Coach Doug Goodwin with a chance to win back-to-back titles in his first two years at Prep.
“Our staff won a lot of championships before I got here. I tried to come in and make sure the program was pointed in the right direction. The key is to let the coaches coach because they know their kids better than anybody. My job has been to make sure we were sound and bought in. So far we’ve had pretty good success despite youth and injuries. We haven’t been perfect but they have performed well,” said Prep Head Coach Doug Goodwin.
Hartfield and Prep played just a few weeks ago on October 13 in the regular season with the Hawks winning 30-17. Prep led 17-14 at the half but came out flat in the 3rd quarter and never recovered.
“We were laser focused in that first half, locked in, but lost a little of that focus in the second half, but we are ready to play a full four quarters this time,” said Prep senior defensive lineman Thomas Gough.
The Patriots only managed 228 yards of total offense on the night. Junior quarterback Billy Puckett was 10-21 for 126 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions and was limited to just 28 rushing yards. Throughout the season Puckett has been solid throwing for 2,115 yards, rushing for 500 yards and accounting for 25 total touchdowns. The key is running multiple formations out of what they call their base personnel, something Hartfield senior linebacker Chris Jones. a Southern Miss commit, will been in tune with once again as the leader of the defense.
“I call the formation by what I see on the play. I use pre-snap reads to get our guys in the right position based on what we learned on film. I’m going to keep doing that and have the game plan ready for Saturday,” said Jones. We really want to stop the passing game and contain the quarterback to make sure he doesn’t get outside the pocket because that’s where he’s dangerous. We know he’s a great scrambler.”
The Hawks leaned on Jesiolowski again with 27 carries for 161 yards and he caught two passes for 83 yards and a touchdown. Cayman Tapper was excellent completing 11 of 16 passes for 220 yards and three touchdowns, nearly all coming after the halftime break. Receivers Kenzy West and Bralan Womack were solid with 85 yards and 52 yards respectively, with each catching a touchdown pass.
“Our kids hadn’t really played a full game before MRA, then we play an unbelievable tight one with them and we tried to get our kids back up for Prep the next week. We tried and tried and tried but Prep kinda shocked our system a little bit and we came out and played a lot different after halftime,” said Hartfield Head Coach Craig Bowman.
“I feel like we were shooting ourselves in the foot in that first game in the first half,” said Jesiolowski, “We didn’t have a whole lot of energy and came out flat, then we went in and regrouped at halftime, came out and got after it and played really well.”
Prep knows they have got to find a way to neutralize Jesiolowski this time around.
“We have got to try to tackle him (Jesiolowski) and keep him from catching passes,” said Coach Goodwin. “You can’t stop him, just try to contain him and limit big plays. He’s really big, really fast, and uses all his tools well.”
“He’s a big strong dude, but if you hit him low enough we can bring him down. We are going to focus on wrapping him up early and not let him get a big head of steam going,” said Andy Brown.
Prep has the ability to flip the script in this sequel. Both coaches know it’s hard to beat a team twice in one season, especially after they just played a month ago.
“We expect this one to be very different, but it’s fun to play a team that’s here all the time. We’re excited about it but playing a team twice brings challenges,” said Coach Bowman.
The key will be who can throw in a few new wrinkles that they didn’t show the first time around, who will have the fewest turnovers and the fewest penalties. If it’s Prep, then the Patriots will secure back-to-back titles and the 27th overall. If it’s Hartfield, the Hawks will close out a perfect 14-0 season and bring home the first ever football championship in school history. Two great storylines, two great teams, but there can only be one winner. Get ready for a good one.
Keys to Victory for Jackson Prep
On offense: Keep the Hawks guessing with the multiple formations that the Patriots love to show pre-snap. Quarterback Billy Puckett will have to be solid both throwing and running the ball when he’s pressured out of the pocket.
On defense: This is simple, find a way to slow down Reed Jesiolowski. It’s very easy to say, but very hard to do. If the Patriots can keep him between the 20’s and not score, they will have a real shot.
Keys to Victory for Hartfield Academy
On offense: While Prep will focus their attention on Reed, it will open up big play opportunities for quarterback Cayman Tapper to find his very talented receivers in Kenzy West and Bralan Womack.
On defense: Pressure by the linebackers and defensive line on Billy Puckett will be critical. If they can keep Puckett in the pocket and not allow him to scramble out to use his legs, they can make it a long night for the Patriots.
Jackson Prep At a Glance
Class/Division: Class: 6A. District 1 (MAIS)
Record: 9-3 overall, 3-2 in district
Head Coach: Doug Goodwin
Assistant Coaches: Nick Brewer, Graham Eklund, Matt Butts, Brent Heavener, Keith Giordano, Rusty Burke
Hartfield At a Glance
Class/Division: Class: 6A. District 1 (MAIS)
Record: 13-0 overall, 5-0 in district
Head Coach: Craig Bowman
Assistant Coaches: Cody Saxton, Jeff McFerran, Pack Toler, Rip Lindsey, Shane Schurb, Stuardt Saxton
The Series: Hartfield leads the series 3-2
Last Meeting: Hartfield won 30-17 in the 2023 regular season
